On June 1, the KOSPI index rose by 312.23 points, or 3.68%, to close at 8788.38, marking a historic high. The index opened at 8485.67, up 9.52 points, and surged to an intraday peak of 8874.16.
Domestic investors purchased a net 377.4 billion won, while institutions bought 2.535 trillion won worth of stocks. In contrast, foreign investors sold a net 2.9143 trillion won, continuing a selling streak for 17 consecutive trading days.
A buy-side circuit breaker was triggered in the securities market. The Korea Exchange halted program buy orders for five minutes after KOSPI 200 futures rose 5.02% for one minute at 11:30 a.m. This marks the 11th buy-side circuit breaker for the KOSPI this year.
Leading stocks, particularly Samsung Electronics and AI-related companies, showed strong performance. Samsung Electronics surged 10.09% to close at 349,000 won, surpassing a market capitalization of 2,000 trillion won for the first time. Other gainers included SK Hynix (up 1.29%), SK Square (up 1.87%), Hyundai Motor (up 3.73%), Samsung Life Insurance (up 5.53%), and Samsung C&T (up 5.20%). Conversely, Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-5.74%), LG Energy Solution (-0.66%), HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (-1.72%), and Hyundai Mobis (-0.91%) faced declines.
The KOSDAQ index fell by 24.77 points, or 2.30%, to close at 1050.03. It opened at 1072.77, down 2.03 points, briefly turned positive in the morning, but then declined further.
Foreign investors bought a net 801.5 billion won in stocks, but individuals and institutions sold 486.7 billion won and 291.4 billion won, respectively.
Most top KOSDAQ stocks performed poorly. EcoPro BM (-4.61%), Alteogen (-0.81%), EcoPro (-6.19%), Juseong Engineering (-7.25%), Kolon TissueGene (-5.26%), Samchundang Pharmaceutical (-3.69%), and Peptron (-7.48%) all declined. However, Rainbow Robotics (up 12.39%) and HLB (up 9.25%) showed strength.
Analysts note that the anticipation surrounding Jensen Huang's visit and the NVIDIA GTC event in Taipei is intensifying interest in AI-related stocks. Jeong-eun Lim, a researcher at KB Securities, stated, "Expectations for collaboration with NVIDIA are rising, leading to strong performances in physical AI-related stocks like LG Electronics and Doosan Robotics. NAVER also surged over 16% after being mentioned as a key partner for NVIDIA AI Cloud."
She added, "News of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's production of HBM4-equipped Vera Rubin chips and a significant increase in semiconductor exports in May have bolstered investment sentiment in the sector. With NVIDIA's GTC event, Computex 2026, and Jensen Huang's visit occurring this week, investors should be cautious of potential short-term volatility in AI-related stocks."
Meanwhile, in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the weekly closing exchange rate for the won against the dollar was recorded at 1504.3 won, down 3.6 won from the previous trading day.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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